So our Mass goes back, without essential change, to the age when it first developed out of the oldest liturgy of all. It is still redolent of that liturgy, of the days when Cæsar ruled the world and thought he could stamp out the faith of Christ, when our fathers met together before dawn and sang a hymn to Christ as to a God. The final result of our enquiry is that, in spite of unsolved problems, in spite of later changes, there is not in Christendom another rite so venerable as ours. ~Fortescue

Tuesday, April 22, 2008

Presented byThe Oratory of the Sacred HeartAtThe Church of the Guardian Angel193 Tenth Avenue at 21st StreetManhattan

C, E trains to 23rd Street StationM23 Bus to 10th Avenue

For information: (917) 535-2054

“We therefore urge all Our children in Christ, both those who are already accustomed to drink the saving waters flowing from the Heart of the Redeemer and, more especially those who look on from a distance like hesitant spectators, to eagerly embrace this devotion.”

Wednesday, April 9, 2008

The Crosier is an ecclesiastical ornament which is conferred on Bishops at their consecration and on mitred Abbots at their investiture, and which is used by these prelates in performing certain solemn functions... According to present-day usage the Roman pontiff does not use the Crosier... The Crosier is symbol of authority and jurisdiction. This idea is clearly expressed in the words of the Roman Pontifical with which the staff is presented to the Bishop-elect: "Accipe baculum pastoralis officii; et sis in corrigendis vitiis pies viens, judicium sine irâ tenens, in fovendis virtutibus auditorum animos mulcens, in tranquillitate severitatis censuram non deserens" (Pont. Rom. 77). ~Online Catholic Encyclopedia